PR Talks : George Russell x Mercedes 1924 Targa Florio @ Trofeo Lorenzo Bandini 2024 - Mercedes Benz's PR strategy in hiding that many do not notice.
We all know that not only George was given the honour to receive the Lorenzo Bandini trophy in 2024 by the association but he was also given the honour by Mercedes Benz AG and Mercedes Benz Classics to drive the historical legendary 1924 Targa Florio while also using his award as a momentum to kickstart a significant PR campaign of theirs that will run through out 2024?
The Lorenzo Bandini Trophy is an annual award honouring an individual or team for their achievements in Formula One motor racing. The award, named after the Italian driver Lorenzo Bandini who died three days after suffering severe burns in a major accident at the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix, was established by Francesco Asirelli and Tiziano Samorè of the Brisighella commune in 1992
It is the year of 2024 and the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy event organizers just announced that they will award their trophy to George Russell as well as various other Mercedes staffs/engineers on May 15 2024.
Just later after the announcement, Mercedes announced that George Russell will be the first person to take the 1924 Targa Florio to the roads for the first time.
The 1924 Targa Florio has extreme significant historical context that I will break down to several points (which I still freak out everytime because they choose George for this job):
In the early 1920s, the Targa Florio was a top event in European motorsport. It offered German companies an important opportunity because, after the First World War, they were initially excluded from participating in the European Grand Prix Championship. They began competing in 1921 and a privateer won in a Mercedes in 1922.
But it wasn't until 1924, where Mercedes came back to the competition with a new car. A car that would rather carve a history in the world of motorsport and automobile.
The 1924 Mercedes Targa Florio was developed by Ferdinand Porsche, the founder of Porsche AG who was back then a Technical Director and Chief Development Officer of Daimler Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG).
Ferdinand Porsche recently moved from Austro Daimler to DMG and took theresponsibility for 1924 MTF's engine, revising the engine to increase power output without changing it's initial design
Paul Daimler, the eldest child of Gottlieb Daimler who founded Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft and invented the petrol engine, is the one who designs the car.
In the 1924 Targa Florio that was held in Sicily, a Mercedes works driver, Christian Werner won the race with the same car George drives 100 years later and later the Mercedes team received the Coppa Termini as the best factory team.
From those significant and important history, we can basically say how this car might be one of the first cars that sets a history for both Mercedes and also Porsche.
in 2022, 2 years before the 100 year anniversary of the 1924 MTF and the 130 years of their motorsport excellence journey, Mercedes Benz and Mercedes Benz Classic decides to rebuild the original 2-litre Targa Florio racing car from the company’s own collection as authentically as possible for the anniversary in 2024.
a bit of a conspiracy theory: found it weird how this was so coincidental, george winning lorenzo bandini -> targa florio completed and ready to be used + 2 mercedes significant anniversaries. if the lorenzo bandini trophy were to be awarded for drivers who make significant achievements in motor racing then shouldn't george be awarded in 2023 for his 2022 performance instead of 2024 for his 2023 performance? i'm not surprised if this is an intentional timing set up
In the April of 2024, less than one month to George Russell's Lorenzo Bandini award ceremony, the 1924 Mercedes Targa Florio completed its first drive following the restoration – on the test track at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Untertürkheim.
April 27 2024 -> Mercedes releases the first episode to a short Targa Florio restoration documentary featuring key Mercedes Benz figures such as Ola Kallenius as CEO of Mercedes Benz Group, Marcus Breitschwerdt as CEO Mercedes‑Benz Heritage GmbH, and other key figures of Mercedes Benz Classics who were involved in the restoration projects.
This will be the beginning of the whole Mercedes' PR strategy for their Targa Florio restoration project that will go on for the rest of 2024.
May 15 2024 -> George hits the road from Faenza to Brisighella, driving the 1924 Targa Florio from Faenza to his Lorenzo Bandini ceremony in Brisighella. This journey is documented by Mercedes through the second episode of their Targa Florio docuseries, a special column by Mercedes, and his demo run was broadcasted by Sky Italy.
He also had a test run with the 1924 Mercedes Targa Florio in Imola with Karl Wendlinger, former Formula 1 racing driver and brand ambassador for Mercedes‑Benz Classic
May 16 2024 -> Sky Sports has a special segment where George drives the 1924 Targa Florio with a former F1 driver and now pundit, Timo Glock
That was the end of George Russell's involvement with the 1924 Targa Florio. But was that it overall? No! Because I said, George's role here is important due to him being chosen as a mega year-long project kickstarter. His image as the representation of the 1924 Mercedes Targa Florio restored version would carry on later to a couple of Mercedes events around the world.
Italy (GR's Lorenzo Bandini award - start of the project) -> Germany (Solitude Revival in Leonberg) -> Germany (F1 Driver Day in Immendingen) -> United Kingdom (Goodwood Festival of Speed at West Sussex) -> US (Pebble Beach Automotive Week in California) -> Italy (Targa Florio Clasica in Sicily) -> Germany (Mercedes Benz Museum - end of project)
Also? This whole ahh post is not just some mere Ari's waffles and theories and speculations that hateful anons think "ohhh you are just trying so hard to prove they cared about George >:(" and come at me in the askbox. Well if you think like that, I am sorry to disappoint you but
This connection and strategy is indeed a fact and was confirmed and said by the then Mercedes Benz's Board of Management for Marketing & Sales, Britta Seeger 😁😁😁
That's the end of my PR talks! Big appreciation for everyone working on the project and strategy for such a great one!
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